Azkals new coach Dooley unveils 34-man training squad

Newly appointed Azkals coach Thomas Dooley has named a total of 34 local-based players who mostly ply their trade in the United Football League to his training squad as battle for places in the national side begins after the departure of German coach Michael Weiss.

Returning players and promising prospects join familiar faces in the Philippine men’s football men’s training team that was unveiled on Friday.

Apart from holdovers led by Phil Younghusband and skipper Chieffy Caligdong, former Azkals Anton del Rosario, Nate Burkey, and Chad Gould have been invited to train for another shot at making the national team’s roster gearing up for the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in May.

Filipinos who either have foreign blood or lived overseas like Fil-American right-back Charles Pettys of Global, Stallion’s Fil-Italian center-back Simone Rota and Filipino-Dutch attacking midfielder Milan Arends, Kenshiro Daniels of Kaya, and Filipino-Spanish Curt Dizon of Union Internacionale Manila have all been called up as well.

Three Philippine Air Force locals in Ryan Lirio, Jake Hugo, and Rudolf Bebanco have also been named to the training pool, which also includes most of the 23-Under standouts.

The preliminary lineup is expected to be reduced by more than half in two weeks before the Azkals’ first match of the year.

The players started their first national team training under Dooley on Friday at Emperador Stadium. They are expected to attend practices at least twice a week upon the agreement between the Azkals and the United Football League.

The Azkals will play against Malaysia on March 1 and Azerbaijan on March 5 as part of their preparations for the Challenge Cup in Maldives, where the tournament champion will book a ticket to the prestigious Asian Cup in 2015.